Convicted animal abuser Catherine Adams to return to B.C. court in July

Catherine Jessica Adams will return to court in Quesnel to continue trial for her breach of probation charge on July 16, 2019.

Adams first appeared in court for trial last week, on May 16. The trial ran long and required a continuation, which was set up by the Quesnel Law Courts yesterday, on May 21.

She was first charged with breaching her probation order on June 29, 2018, according to files accessed via B.C. Court Services Online.

The probation order prohibited her from owning or having custody of an animal.

Catherine — along with her mother Karin Adams — had 16 dogs seized from a property in Quesnel in June 2018, after an SPCA investigation found the dogs were being kept in crates too small for their size in a poorly-ventilated area with little or no access to water and with feces- and urine-soaked matting.

Catherine was met with protesters outside the Quesnel Law Courts when she arrived on the morning of May 16. The group gathered in a Rally4Paws to protest animal abuse. It was the second protest to take part in Quesnel at one of her court dates.

The protesters were organized by Quesnel locals Troy Giesbrecht and Tammy Hockett, and they held up signs reading: “Stop Animal Abuse,” “Do unto them as they have done,” and “Animal Abusers Mock our Justice System. Change is Needed Now!”

“I have been following what these two have been doing for many years now, and it has to stop,” says Giesbrecht.

“[We’re here] to make sure that the courts know that this is not acceptable. Laws have to be changed [and it] isn’t just up to the court system, it’s up to the whole of Canada, the world.”

Catherine’s probation order was a condition of her 2015 sentencing in Smithers Provincial Court, where she was found guilty of causing unnecessary pain/suffering to an animal and causing/permitting the animal to be in distress.

Emaciation, poor living conditions, parasite infestation, lack of food, water and medical treatment were among the conditions affecting some of the dogs and horses in Catherine and Karin’s care at the time.

Karin Adams was also charged with impersonating a peace officer and mischief relating to interfering with property in Innisfail, Alta., after she was found with eight dogs in terrible condition in a hotel room in July 2018, just weeks after having 16 dogs seized from her property in Quesnel.

Karin was also found guilty in Smithers in 2015 of causing or permitting an animal to be in distress.

The SPCA said in July it would be recommending new charges of animal cruelty for both women due to the Quesnel incident, although charges have not yet been laid.